Blog 2 - Draft History of Lexington Market

Notes:

·       This is a draft addressing the history of the Lexington Market.  I was trying to get the basic narrative flow, realizing that it is a bit choppy and needs some more detail in places.   

·       I envision some kind of introductory paragraph explaining why the zine exists and why someone should read it.   This would include identifying some version of the basic question which I see as balancing the needs of the community against the economic/social interests of the city.

·       We haven’t discussed pictures – it would be nice to have at least one of the old market, with stalls etc.  There are some on the web but I don’t know the rules about using them or even how to get one into this piece.

·        I assume that the discussion of the plan will follow this section and I put a header as a suggestion.

·       As an editorial note, I was trying to use uppercase Market meaning the Lexington Market specifically and lowercase market to mean public market in general.  I was probably not totally consistent in this, but think we need a standard convention.

Liz Cusick

Lexington Market has been around a long time.

            The sign on the front of Lexington Market reads “since 1782” which is a little misleading.  The city got the land in 1782 from John Eager Howard but it was twenty-one years later, in 1803, that the first market building opened.  There has been a market building on the site ever since, although not always the same building.  It was not the first market built in Baltimore but it has lasted the longest. 

      In the 17oo and 1800’s, a city was responsible for making sure that its citizens had access to food.  Most large cities had public markets where farmers and other vendors sold food to urban residents under regulations to ensure fair trading and safe food.  The city dictated which days each market could be open; Lexington Market opened on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.  Everyone in the city needed food and the markets were used by everyone – rich and poor, men and women, all races and ethnicities.  Markets were a place where everyone shopped.

     In 1800, the population of Baltimore was 26,514; 50 years later, in 1850, it was 169,054.  More people needed more food, so Baltimore built more markets for a total of 11.  Lexington Market expanded by building two more buildings.  All three were sheds —buildings with a roof but no outside walls.  That allowed vendors to set up stalls outside the cover of the roof so that more vendors could crowd into the space. 

Lexington Market has changed.

     Lexington Market is still here because it has changed as the city changed.    By the 1850’s, Baltimore grew so fast that many people could not easily get to one of the markets.   In these neighborhoods, green grocers started stores which offered fresh food bought from butchers or farmers.   Over the objections of vendors in the markets, the city allowed these stores to make sure that everyone had access to food.   Despite the growing competition, Lexington Market remained an important source of fresh food for Baltimore. 

      Baltimore continued to grow quickly.  By 1900, the population reached 508,957.  The city did not keep building new markets for the new parts of the city.  Instead green groceries and later supermarkets provided other choices for shoppers.  Improvements in transportation, refrigeration and food preservation meant that food for Baltimore could come from distant parts of the country, not just from local farmers selling in the market.  Food processing and distribution became big businesses.  Much of the responsibility for food provision moved from the public control of the city to the private, market economy.  Eventually this helped create unequal access to fresh food in the city, talked about today as the problem of food deserts.

     By 1900, Lexington Market was 100 years old and needed maintenance and repair.  There were debates through the first half of the twentieth century about whether the buildings should be improved or replaced with an enclosed market.   The vendors in the Market opposed rebuilding because it would be disruptive and change their financial arrangements with the city.   Improvements were made in 1908 including adding electricity to light the market and a new sign.  New issues were added to the old arguments.  An enclosed building would improve sanitation and a parking lot would help manage growing car traffic.  Vendors were happy to get refrigeration and wanted parking, but continued to resist efforts to change the financing of stalls.

     This stalemate was resolved in 1949 when Lexington Market burned down.   The fire was caused by an electric spark in the early morning.  Two men were in the Market unloading ice for a stall and quickly brought fire-fighters.  The main Market building was destroyed but the fire did not spread.   The city opened a temporary market quickly and in 1952 the current Lexington Market building opened.  The Arcade was added in 1982.

There are still public debates about Lexington Market.

     Although the debate about an enclosed market was settled, debates about the Lexington Market have continued.  One is about money – should the Market be self-sustaining?  Does the city have a financial responsibility for keeping the market going?  When the new Market opened in 1952, the city changed the financing arrangements with vendors.  Vendors no longer owned their stalls and had to pay more in rent for the space.  The building was financed by selling 25-year bonds, primarily to local banks.  However, while the Market continued to flourish and was able to pay its operating bills, it did not make enough to repay the bonds. 

     The second debate is about Lexington Market as part of the west downtown community.  Although the Market is used by people throughout the region, most of its customers come from the immediate neighborhood.  Questions about paying for continued improvements to the Market have become involved in planning for the neighborhood.   In the first half of the twentieth century, Baltimore’s downtown was a business center with a large shopping area anchored by four major department stores.  However, as suburbs grew, residents moved further from the market and shoppers went to suburban malls.   The neighborhood around the market became poorer and blacker.  Since the mid-century, Baltimore city government has struggled with a variety of plans for “revitalizing” the downtown area including how Lexington Market could play a part in attracting more affluent shoppers and residents back to the city.

     The city’s efforts have had some successes – the growing presence of University of Maryland institutions and creation of the Bromo-Seltzer Arts District – but have not yet produced the economic revival that planners hoped for.  The city has recently made public the newest plans for the Market.

What will Lexington Market be like in the future?

Sources:

“Against New Market: Two Hundred Dealers Hold An Enthusiastic Meeting.” Baltimore Sun, August 14, 1907.

Bucholz, H.E. “When Baltimore’s First Market House Was Built; It Stood at Gay And Baltimore Streets--History of The Markets.” Baltimore Sun, December 8, 1907.

Edward. “Lexington Market Was Opened 105 Years Ago; The History of One of the Most Famous Markets in the World.” Baltimore Sun, December 22, 1907.

Fant, Hamilton G. “From the People: Spare Lexington Market.” Baltimore Sun, May 22, 1907.

“Fire at Lexington Market Wipes Out Entire Section.” Baltimore Sun, March 25, 1949.

Gamble, Robert J. “The City That Eats: Food and Power in Baltimore’s Early Public Markets.” In Baltimore Revisited, by Nicole King and Kate Drabinski, forthcoming.

“Improvement of the Lexington Market.” Baltimore Sun, April 9, 1877.

Kimelman, Donal. “Bonds Due in 1979: Lexington Mart on Fiscal Brink.” Baltimore Sun, August 16, 1976.

“Large Crowd at Opening of Market.” Baltimore Sun, September 28, 1949.

Schultheis, Patricia. Baltimore’s Lexington Market. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2007.

Tangires, Helen. Public Markets and Civic Culture in Nineteenth-Century America. Creating the North American Landscape. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003.